Mr. Speaker, as the House knows, this is National Volunteer Week. Last year, during the International Year of the Volunteer, the Minister of Human Resources Development launched the Thérèse Casgrain Volunteer Award to recognize the valuable work of Canadian volunteers.

Could the minister inform the House on the status of this award and who the recipients are this year?

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to pay tribute to two of Canada's 6.5 million volunteers. Thanks to Patricia Anzovino's efforts at Casa el Norte, a transition home for refugees fleeing persecution in their homeland, over 10,000 refugees have received food and shelter.

Samuel Bowman's efforts, as co-founder of Pathways, have ensured that thousands of Canada's children, youth and families have benefited from prenatal and postnatal nutrition programs, homeless drop-in centres and childcare services.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I accused ACOA of having an ethical deficit because its own staff set up a non-profit organization to apply to ACOA for a loan. Of course it was approved because the people who stamped it approved were the people who applied for the loan in the first place.

The money went to build an interpretive centre in the riding of the solicitor general.

Does the solicitor general think that an ethical deficit, which means breaking every rule in the book, is necessary to get money in his riding?

Mr. Speaker, if those categorizations were ever true there should be a surplus of questions being faced by the minister responsible for ACOA.

This is the first opportunity I have had to stand on my feet and answer a question in the House since January 16 and I am very pleased to do so.

With respect to the question at hand, I would like to point out to the hon. member that the project in question was put forward as a priority by the provincial government and the community. As the hon. member acknowledged, the project had a very substantial, productive benefit to the area.

Mr. Speaker, the facts are true. They were acknowledged by the president of ACOA yesterday and the Auditor General of Canada.

Ethical deficits and Liberal Party contributors seem to go hand in hand in this country. Perhaps that is why 69% of Canadians believe the government to be corrupt.

The president of APM Inc. just happens to be the president of the Liberal Party in Prince Edward Island. His company, which had the contract to build the interpretive centre, donated $1,000 to the solicitor general's election campaign.

My question is for the solicitor general. Was this a payback, a kickback or just a thank you for the contract?

Mr. Speaker, what was also pointed out on several occasions was that the project had a very substantial and positive impact on the community. It was supported by the province of Prince Edward Island. It was supported by the community.

I would simply ask the hon. member to listen to his own words for one moment. He said that no one was questioning the fact that this was a viable and valuable project. In fact the hon. member for St. Albert acknowledged that he was “not worried about where the money ended up because I think in the end it was not a bad deal”.

Mr. Speaker, last Friday, Shimon Peres agreed to allow a UN fact-finding mission into Israel to shed light on the military intervention in the Jenin refugee camp. Yesterday, we learned that the Israeli government had changed its mind and now wants to delay the arrival of the UN investigators.

Will Canada add its voice to that of the UN secretary general and issue a clear statement to Israeli authorities that it feels that the arrival of the UN fact-finding mission in Jenin is necessary and urgent?

Mr. Speaker, as I said in the House today, Canada supports the UN secretary general's efforts to get a fact-finding mission under way in Israel and in the Palestinian territories. We support these efforts and have clearly said so to the Israeli authorities, as well as the UN. We will continue to support these efforts and we are confident that Kofi Annan will have this investigation under way by the end of the week.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report that Canada has become the first national government in the world to make privacy assessment mandatory for departments and agencies. This policy will ensure that privacy protection is a core consideration in the initial framing of programs and services. All those assessments will have to be sent to the privacy commissioner for his advice.

This is a strong signal to Canadians that the Government of Canada is committed to protecting their personal information.

As he continues to evade the question and appears so confident that this was an isolated case, will he commit to tabling in the House Correctional Service Canada's findings regarding how much money was paid and how many inmates received those payments? This is very simple. How many and how much?

Mr. Speaker, as I said before, what took place was inappropriate. My hon. colleague is fully aware that we will be appearing before the standing committee tomorrow. He is also fully aware that Correctional Service Canada has indicated that this will not happen again.

Mr. Speaker, it is with regret that I find myself standing here before the House at the bar but it is understandable that I find myself here.

It was wrong for me to take the Mace, the symbol of the dignity and authority of the House, into my hands as a gesture of protest. I have reflected on my actions and have had the benefit of hearing my colleagues speak eloquently about this place and about the respect that must be accorded to it.

I apologize to you, Mr. Speaker, and to all members of the House for my actions. I ask that you accept this apology in the spirit in which it is afforded.

It is my duty, pursuant to Standing Order 81(14), to inform the House that the motion to be considered tomorrow during consideration of the business of supply is as follows:

That this House condemn the government for its inability to defend the workers at the General Motors plant in Boisbriand and thus allowing the vehicle assembly sector of the auto industry to disappear.

This motion, standing in the name of the hon. member for Laurentides, is not votable.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present the 14th report of the Standing Committee on Finance regarding its order of reference of Tuesday, April 9 in relation to Bill C-47, an act respecting the taxation of spirits, wine and tobacco and the treatment of ships' stores.

The committee has considered Bill C-47 and reports the bill with amendment.

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-448, an act to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce this private member's bill which seeks to amend the Canada Business Corporations Act to require the auditor to divulge to shareholders whether he or she is providing other, non-audit services to the same company.

This is an issue of increasing interest after the Enron scandal which was one of the factors in the collapse of Enron. We do not believe the auditor should provide non-audit services to the same company he or she is auditing. Bill C-448 would oblige the auditor to divulge in his or her annual report whether that was the practice.

Second reading and reference to Standing Committee on Transport and Government Operations of Bill C-42, an act to amend certain acts of Canada, and to enact measures for implementing the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, in order to enhance public safety

Mr. Speaker, There have been some discussions among all the party House leaders, and I believe you would find unanimous consent to discharge the order for consideration of Bill C-42 and to withdraw this bill from the order paper.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great emotion that I present a petition signed by 1,000 people from the Quebec City region, particularly from the riding of Québec.

The petitioners ask that observers be sent to Palestine. They describe the Israeli system of checkpoints in the occupied territories as apartheid. They believe that from now on there must be real negotiations and that the objectives must be clear, that Palestinians must be able to live with full dignity and that they must be given all that they require to develop.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I rise to present a petition signed by constituents living in Grand Bend and Forest in the riding of Lambton--Kent--Middlesex. The petitioners call on parliament to protect the health of seniors and children and to save our environment by banning the additive MMT as it creates smog and enhances global warming.